Serpent Tears
by bloodmoon-werewolf
Summary: Just a typical angsty romance between Remus Lupin and Severus Snape. R for language and sexual content. SLASH!
1. Default Chapter

"Serpent Tears"  
Prologue Professor Snape sat over his desk, leaning over a piece of parchment, lost in thought. His chic [A/N: Chic, Greasy, Same thing :-P] locks were draped about his shoulders, cloaking his gray, ghastly face from the eyes of his ebony snake. Achilles was currently studying his master intently from his book shelf perch. The serpent flicked its tongue and emitted a sharp hiss, drawing the attention of the seemingly catatonic potions professor below. Severus looked up from his studies and eyed the snake blankly until a look of realization washed across his face.  
  
"That's right...the wolfsbane..." He thought to himself.  
  
Snape strode into his dungeons and ambled almost cat like over to the cauldron, inhabited by a red, bubbling liquid, in the furthermost corner of the dark, dank dungeon. Snape placed his wand at the base of the pot and muttered an indistinct spell that quieted the flames burning underneath the cauldron. Snape drew some of the corrosive liquid from the pot with his index finger and sniffed, wiping the gel onto his robes.  
  
"I believe this will suffice.And I know Lupin will greatly enjoy the flavor this month." Snape's lips curled into a smirk. "Vomit." [A/N: charming.]  
  
He then washed his hands in an old muggle eyewash he kept in the dungeon, just in case some foolish student felt the urge to stick their eye in a caustic potion, or some clumsy idiot spilled something in his eye and was too stupid and panicky to just use a simple spell to remove the sludge. Snape chuckled, an unnatural sound to hear in the dungeons that had housed screams for so many years.  
  
He brought a one-liter vial up to the cauldron and swept some of its smoking contents into the bottle and labeled it "wolfsbane". He gingerly placed the vial into a brown box, being careful not to break the bottle, which would cause disastrous results to the health of Lupin, or even worse, the well-being of his new mahogany work table. He ran his calloused fingers along said table affectionately, thinking of how much well earned Galleons he had spent in the acquisition of the desk.  
  
He walked over to his fireplace, and set the parcel down just in front of the raging fire, and focused his obsidian eyes into the flame. Snape shivered uncontrollably. Even as the fire raged just inches from his whitish pink lips, the deep chill of the un insolated castle walls and the bitter cold of loneliness and anguish both gnawed at his skin and sank into the marrow of his bones. He grabbed a handful of floo powder from the pot to his left and chucked it into the roaring flames.  
  
"Professor Remus J. Lupin, 4138 honeyrose wood, Hogsmeade." He said clearly.  
  
Almost immediately after uttering the last syllable, Lupin's body and part of the cozy background of his cottage came into view.  
  
"Why, hello Severus! What brings a fine man like yourself calling me on this...fine winter's night?" Remus said cheerily.  
  
Snape gave a lopsided sneer as a clear sign of his disgust.  
  
"Spare me, Lupin. Do you want the potion or not?" He drawled, dislike for the man opposite to him was clear in his tone.  
  
Lupin's beaming smile faltered a tad, but he returned to his genial state at the sight of the parcel. Snape noticed how Lupin was staring at the package and took the liberty in educating Remus.  
  
"As you can see, my dedication to my duties have remained steadfast, even over what is supposed to be a reprieve from every day life." Snape said loathingly.  
  
Remus raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Yes...yes, of course. Thank you, I am...to say the least, very grateful for your efforts. Tell me, do your parents have the same kind of fits as mine when trying to brew potions in the house? No matter, though, how much they worry and how bothersome they may be, it sure is nice to have family around this time of year. Christmas!" Remus went on jovially.  
  
All the while Severus was giving Lupin a stare that, if looks could kill, would have stabbed, hung, poisoned, and suffocated the friendly lycanthrope.  
  
"I don't have family, Lupin. Well, at least any that will claim me." He snapped.  
  
Snape's bark awakened Achilles from his serpentine slumber from atop the mantle, and crawled over to Severus where it regally coiled itself onto Snape's lap. Remus looked sympathetic.  
  
"Severus, we have both gone through our share of pain and loss, but that's why we need each other. Come on, bury the hatchet...Hasn't-?"  
  
Snape barred his teeth "Don't you lecture me about pain and suffering! At least you actually had something in the first place, and you still have something even now! I have no one, and I need no one! Get out of my sight!" He spat, banishing Lupin's image in the flames with a vigorous wave of his hand.  
  
Snape sat staring at the empty hearth, breathing heavily with his pearly white fangs still barred. He curtly placed the now on edge serpent into his cage, undressed, and got into his old four-poster bed. He rolled up into a ball and scoured his memory for images of a family that doesn't exist. His raspy breathing quickly turned to sobs as he wept into his milk-white knees. 


	2. Chapter One: Merry Christmas!

Chapter One: Merry Christmas! Severus Snape awoke, eyes shut, to the same moldy scent that had haunted his senses ever since he moved into the dank dungeon that he calls home. But something tainted the scent.no.tainted was the wrong word. The new scent almost overrode the unpleasant moldy smell with something warm, thick, and musty. It reminded him of his childhood dog, Shep. Except.it was tinged with something not quite natural.He knew the vile stench of a  
  
"Werewolf!" Snape shouted in disgust as his eyes snapped open to see a pensive Lupin examining a portrait of the potion master's late sister, Belle.  
  
Lupin turned and smiled at Severus. The smile reminded him of an old muggle phrase. What was it? Ah yes. "The cat that ate the canary".  
  
"Good Morning, Severus! I trust you slept well." Remus Lupin chirped genially. Snape returned his greeting with a glare. Lupin's smile only grew at Snape's typical irately silenced greeting.  
  
Lupin chuckled and shook his head at Severus. "You sure do look comfortable, my old friend."  
  
Snape jumped in surprise as he noticed his own lack of clothing. Why must he sleep in the nude? Severus swept the black velvet blanket about his body, the paleness of his skin contrasting the utter blackness of his coverings. If Snape had any extra blood in his body, he would have blushed.  
  
"What do you want, werewolf?" Snape yelled inquisitively, his eyes attempting to burn Lupin from the outside in.  
  
Remus retained his sunny demeanor, seeming to light the eternal darkness of the dungeons.  
  
"You forgot to give me my wolfsbane last night, and as I know you are well aware, the full moon is this evening." He stated evenly.  
  
Snape gave a terse nod and moved into the bathroom of his subterranean lair and changed into his trademark black robes. How had Lupin been looking at Snape's body? Why did he only smile and greet Snape, who was laying half asleep in the buff? Well, he's a werewolf. He's capable of just about anything. Snape rescued himself, and his dignity from his thoughts as he strode, now fully dressed, into his bedroom/workroom where he withdrew a brown box from the first drawer of his desk. Lupin remained steadfast in his staring as Snape straightened and presented the werewolf with the cardboard conatiner. Lupin smiled and nodded a fervent thanks to the dark man as a light seemed to be switched on in his head.  
  
"Ah.Severus, in the spirit of Christmas, I have something for you!" he shouted amiably, pulling a concealed gift box from underneath his tattered cloak. Lupin thrusted the gift wrapped box towards the glowering man opposite him.  
  
Snape eyed the gift warily for a few seconds before Lupin piped up once again. With that annoying thing.speech. [A/N: What a cutie. So antisocial.]  
  
"Oh don't worry Sev! I'm pretty sure it won't bite!" He cried. Severus winced at the pet name given to him since his own days as a student at Hogwarts.  
  
Snape gingerly removed the gift from lupin's hands, careful to avoid contact with the werewolf's skin. Lupin studied Snape as he scratched a line across the package with a sharp fingernail and removed both halves of the wrapping. Severus opened the right flap of the package and withdrew the contents. A brown, exact replica of Lupin in wolf form sat delicately on Snape's palm, wagging his tale and squealing "Squeeze me!". [A/N: Too bad its not anatomically correct XD]  
  
Lupin giggled almost girlishly. "I made it!" He said, in the same pitch and tone as his cotton counterpart on Snape's palm.  
  
Snape all the while didn't blink but once, and that was in shock. He eyed the middle aged man across from him and shook his head pityingly.  
  
"How do I turn it off?" Snape demanded, overly eager to stop the lupine plushie's sick demands.  
  
Lupin wringed his hands nervously. "Oh.I never thought about turning it off.It was just so cute!" He said, worried that Snape would reject what he had spent hours of labor on doing. Severus.Oh why doesn't Severus like him! Lupin pines endlessly for him.Stays up thinking about his colleague until the sun replaced the moon in the sky. Why couldn't Snape see his need? The way Lupin would stare at him during staff meetings, and wave at him in the halls. and.  
  
"Lupin? This will come in handy when I test a potion for corrosiveness." Snape said dismissively, throwing the plush into his dirty close hamper, silencing its cheerful calls.  
  
Lupin's heart sank as he felt hot tears tease his brown eyes. Lupin attempted to cloak his rejection with a beaming smile, only to feel the liquid heat of a tear trickle down his face, changing direction at worry lines and smile lines.  
  
Snape rolled his eyes and made a disgusted snort. "Cry somewhere else, Lupin. I have better things to do than offer console to a werewolf." [A/N: I didn't like writing that! *sobs*]  
  
Lupin cleared his throat and nodded, not trusting his voice. Lupin started towards the door, but doubled back for the wolfs bane. Remus opened the door to the moldy corridors that weaved their way back to the main part of the school. Remus drifted numb with greif through the school grounds until he reached the border dividing Hogwarts and the "real world". He ferreted through his myriad pockets and brought out his wand and prepared to apparate before Dumbledore called out his name from several yards behind him. Dumbledore ran, purple robes and beard swishing behind him, until he was but a couple feet from his younger friend.  
  
"Whatever Snape says." Dumbledore said calmly. "He doesn't really mean. You've known him long enough to know this."  
  
Lupin shook his head. Dumbledore was the only one who could ever clear his turbulent thoughts.  
  
"I.I guess so. I just." Lupin faltered. "I'm not like this. I've never really cared about being accepted or." He continued, tears now flowing freely. "L-loved." Lupin ended, sobbing pitifully.  
  
Dumbledore reached with his right hand to embrace the werewolf's shoulder sympathetically. "You love him, and you want him to return your sentiments." He said simply.  
  
Lupin was stunned at Dumbledore's understanding of the subject. "But.how.?" Lupin lost the end of his inquiry within a stifled whimper.  
  
A whimsical look came upon Dumbledore's face, and a quirky light flashed about his kind eyes. "I knew what it was like to be young and in love." Dumbledore said calmly, removing his hand from Lupin's shoulder.  
  
Remus smiled, silently thanking Dumbledore for comfort. He looked inside himself for the trigger to apparate to his little cottage and pressed it. In no less than a millisecond, Remus J. Lupin was home again. He plopped himself onto a comfy brown leather armchair in front of a roaring fire sparked by his favorite house elf, Holly (Rachael, his other house elf, was too busy getting bombed on butterbeer). He closed his eyes, seeking a silence, but was instead haunted by the recurring image of Snape stabbing Lupin in the heart with a black dagger, sneering in disgust as Lupin's blood poured out.  
  
Finally, after so many hours of restless mourning, he fell into a troubled sleep.  
  
Snape turned away from the empty doorway and walked over to his closet and kneeled beside the wicker basket containing mold, failed potions experiments, and trash. He usually called this his hamper. He delved into the repugnant pile and withdrew Lupin's gift. The wolf's eyes lightened and its tongue hung out as Snap rescued it from the pile and began to stroke its lupine muzzle. "I love being pet!" It exclaimed cheerily. Snape smiled sadly at the little cotton being and nuzzled it against his thin chest. "I'm so sorry Lupin." He cried mournfully. "But I can't let you love me.I won't hurt you more than I already do." He sobbed as he curled up into a ball and wept the afternoon away. 


	3. Chapter Two: Movin' On Up!

Chapter Three: Moving Up!  
  
Snape awoke, hacking and sputtering out green water from his lungs. He jumped up and surveyed his bedroom. Green, liquidy sludge covered everything in his room with a foot thick coating of everything, including the floors and walls. Snape made a few strangled, frustrated noises and cursed under his breath.  
  
Snape sloshed his way through against the flow of the toxic refuse to the source. With much effort, he beat his bathroom door down and sought refuge from the sludge on the wooden door and watched in horror as more of the wretched stuff flowed out from his bathtub.  
  
"Bloody hell!" He cursed, fangs barred. "Well, there goes my research!" He yelled to himself.  
  
Exasperated with repeated efforts to exorcise the gook, he almost swam his way out of his dungeons and stalked angrily to Dumbledore's office. Snape stood outside the Headmaster's office and drew breath to speak the password to the office, but was cut short by the very man he was seeking.  
  
"Come on in, Severus." Dumbledore said, opening the door to his office with a small flick of his wrist. Snape took a seat across from Dumbedore and just glared, too angry with himself to speak a word. Dumbledore chuckled softly.  
  
"You've got some.uh." Dumbledore gestured towards Snape's hair, which harbored a string of green ooze. Snape vigorously swept the stuff from his hair. A muscle in the irate man's face twitched. "Yep! You got it." Dumbledore said, smiling widely despite the potion master's expression.  
  
Snape sighed, defeated. "As everyone knows, you are an omniscient being." Snape drawled sarcastically. ".And I'm sure that you know exactly what happened to my lair." He continued.  
  
"That I do, my friend." He said, in a tone reminiscent of Lupin. Poor Lupin. What did I do to him? And How do I find out if he's ok without showing concern?  
  
"Severus? Severus? Return to reality Severus." Dumbledore repeated, a sly smile etched across his ancient features. "I said you were going to stay at Remus's until I can get Argus to restore your quarters." Dumbledore continued.  
  
Severus was shocked by Dumbledore's most recent command. "WHAT?!" Snape exploded. "Why can I not just stay at." Snape cringed. "The Leaky Cauldron?" He asked.  
  
"Because I already checked with both Remus and The Leaky Cauldron, and the only one with a vacancy is our lupine friend." Dumbledore explained calmly.  
  
Snape closed his eyes and began to count to ten. No, this wasn't working. I'm still angry.  
  
"I've already sent an owl to Remus explaining your situation, and he has graciously agreed to keep you and clothe you with his own robes until yours have been de-sludged." Dumbledore chuckled at his new word.  
  
Snape shook his head fervently and rose from his chair. "When am I supposed to." Snape resigned to Dumbledore's strange plans. ".move in?"  
  
"Right now." Dumbledore said as he enthusiastically tossed a handful of floo powder into the fireplace in the wall to the right of the desk and muttered the appropriate words. A vision of a warm cottage filled with old comforting furniture lay in the foreground. Lupin sat smoking a pipe in a brown leather loveseat directly in front of the fireplace, smoking a pipe. At the sight of Snape's face in the fire, Lupin stepped back from the chair and meekly gestured for Snape to enter his humble abode.  
  
Snape thrusted himself into the fire and looked back as Dumbledore's smiling image vanished, only to be replaced with the angry redness of the fire.  
  
Lupin stood in front of Snape, beaming from ear to ear, with only boxers covering his nether regions, glasses on his nose, a small, diamond stud in his left ear, and a pipe in his mouth. Remus disregarded his indecent appearance and pulled Snape into a needy hug. Guilt and wanting overcame Snape as he returned Lupin's embrace weakly. Remus ran his soft hand through Severus' midnight black hair and began to suckle gently on Snape's earlobe.  
  
Snape jumped back in surprise, pushing Lupin away fearfully. "What the hell do you think you're doing, werewolf?!" Snape shouted, obviously agitated.  
  
Lupin collapsed, put his head in his hands and began to sob. Snape just stood over the kneeling man, totally lost.  
  
"Last night." He wailed. ".was a full moon, Severus." He sobbed.  
  
"Do you think me a moron like you, Lupin? You are sadly mistaken if you think me ignorant enough to forget. A previous full moon has nothing to do with your current behavior, wolf." He yelled, scared of his own feelings, and his body's reaction to Lupin's ministrations.  
  
Remus quieted himself and gestured weakly to his arms. Horrible cuts scarred Lupin's fair skin. "I woke up from my transformation with these." He muttered weakly. "I.I haven't slept since the night before last." He sobbed. "I want to die, Severus." He whispered as he slumped forward and passed into a forced slumber.  
  
A dam broke in Snape's mind as his salty tears ran down in rivers as he kneeled to collect his fallen colleague. He stood cradling Lupin's limp form, running his calloused hands through Lupin's light brown, slightly graying hair. He brought his lupine companion to the loveseat directly behind him and set Lupin down, pulling a tattered quilt, formelly folded on the arm of the couch, up Remus' body to his soft chin. Snape gave Lupin a soft peck on his lips and went in search of a place to wash himself of the filth of both the ooze and the guilt of forbidden love. [A/N: That was.unlike me. I swear. Forbidden love? Fags? What has Holly and Rachael (the two drunken house elves) done to me?] 


	4. Chapter Three: Denial

Chapter four: Denial  
  
For almost three hours Snape sat in front of the fire watching the red tongues dance about his vision, as was a nightly custom of his.   
  
Werewolves. Dirty animals with no regard to the health and feelings of others. They don't even feel human emotions. He knew this from a very reputable source in one of his favorite reads, "How to Kill a Werewolf…Bloodily". So why had this one behaved in the way that he did? Snape shook his head fervently, willing his thoughts to clear. He was sick. That's all. But why did -   
  
Lupin stirred on the couch, turning over to face the back of Snape's neck. "Finally awake? I thought you might sleep away all of our fun time together." He said sarcastically without turning to meet Lupin's groggy expression.  
  
"Ah…Sevvvv…" He cooed, obviously drunken on the cough syrup Snape had been spooning him for the past three hours, every hour. "What…What time is it? I believe it's chow time…" Lupin muttered, dragging himself up from the couch. Remus made his way to the small, cosy kitchen.  
  
Snape stood up and surveyed his new…home for the next couple days. A well used chess board stood on four legs with two chairs at either end against the opposite wall. Five humungous bookshelves were standing erect, two on each side wall. This particular group of items sparked Snape's interest. He walked over to the farthest bookshelf and began to survey the titles.  
  
"Most Potent Potions" leaned on "The Role Of Potions In the Defense Against The Dark Arts" which leaned on "Living with Lycanthropy". Snape decided to pick up the last title and read some excerpts from the last chapter, "Dying with Lycanthropy". Snape smirked.  
  
  
  
At the last twenty years of a werewolf's life, their mental health spirals  
  
Downwards almost as fast as their physical health. The death of a   
  
Werewolf will always be on a full moon, and no werewolf has ever been   
  
Known to return to it's human form before a burial, if there even is one.  
  
The typical lycanthropic death is slow and painful, much like the transformation  
  
Itself. The lycanthrope begins to develop a cancer like tumor within its belly.  
  
Eventually the cancer will slowly "eat" the victim alive until he or she is  
  
Both insane and on the brink of death. This is the fate of all werewolves,  
  
And none has been known to evade this fate.  
  
Snape read and reread the last sentence of the passage until a tear fell upon it. How he had been so wrong! So this is what will happen to poor Moony at the end of his equally tortured life…  
  
"Severus! Lunch is ready, if you'll join me in the dining room!" Lupin called.   
  
Snape deposited the book in the bookcase as soon as he heard Remus's voice. He wiped the moisture from his face and stalked into the his host's dining room. Severus was immediately stunned at the layout of the turkey, stuffing, cranberries, and eggnog.   
  
"I think I shall just take a small portion back with me to the guest room. I'm not sure your family would like having a greasy old man dripping on their food." He said, but quickly chided himself for sounding friendly towards Lupin. He couldn't help it, though, he felt a humungous swelling of pity for the werewolf after having read that book.  
  
"I…uh, they won't be coming…" He said, looking more tired than ever before. "HOW ABOUT SOME NUTMEG IN THAT EGG NOG!?" Lupin asked, way to perky even for himself.  
  
Snape nodded and thrusted his glass outwards towards Lupin, who was sitting to his right. Remus deposited a pinch of nutmeg into the creamy yellow liquid.   
  
"You don't have any family left, do you Lupin." Snape muttered under his breath. Lupin gasped and dropped his fork with a surprised squeak. "I do, I do, don't you worry my friend. Tons of them…Scores even, I imagine they'll be replying to that owl I sent…" He said pitifully. "…last year…" Lupin cleared his throat and stood. "Will you excuse me, Severus? I have some things…in my bedroom…that need taking care of." He continued, attempting to recover himself. Lupin started towards the hall leading to the back of the house.  
  
Snape rose quickly and grabbed Lupin by the arm and pulled him into a hungry, demanding, almost angry kiss. Snape, still grasping Lupin's arm, threw him down in anger and ran from the house, and ran, and ran until he couldn't run anymore. 


	5. Chapter Four: Awkward

Chapter five: AWK ward…  
  
Snape laid on his stomach, watching his tears drop into the crystal clear spring below him. He scooped a handful of water and brought the liquid to his mouth and gargled for the millionth time. It wasn't that Lupin's taste was unpleasant, it was just that Severus had been taught as a child to stay the course, and to follow his parents' examples. Follow the course. Excel in studies at Hogwarts. Study the dark arts. Join the Dark Lord. Get married to a nice Death Eater trophy wife. His life was planned out since birth, and he had rebelled against the way it was supposed to be, so he was paying the price.  
  
Snape was brought from his thoughts by the soft sound of footfalls. He gathered his thoughts and brought himself into a Indian style sitting position and stared blankly at Remus.   
  
The werewolf cleared his throat at prepared to speak. "What you…What we did back at the house -"  
  
"Didn't happen." Severus said tersely, banishing Lupin's hopes.  
  
" I understand, I really do, you know how I feel about you, Sev, and -"  
  
Snape exploded in shameful anger. "DON'T CALL ME SEV! MY NAME IS SNAPE!" He yelled, stalking off from Lupin once again towards the cabin in the distance. Lupin sighed and shook his head. I guess he isn't the only one who needs to up their meds. [A/N: Thanks Holly, for that fun little comment.]  
  
Later that night at Lupin's cabin…  
  
[A/N: Rachael's stuff starts here!]  
  
Snape slowly paced balk to Lupin's house, admitting himself silently and slipping to the spare bedroom the man had granted him. Without bothering to change out of his robes, also granted him by Lupin, Snape collapsed on the bed and stared mournfully at the ceiling.   
  
Why couldn't he let go of his parents and what they had taught him, let go of what society would think, what HE thought, and pursue the affections of a werewolf? He didn't really believe he was attracted to the opposite sex, not that it mattered. But with Lupin, he felt comfortable and felt like it was right, like he could be himself…which was exactly why he couldn't let it happen.  
  
Unbidden thoughts of Lupin and himself doing things he had no right to think about brought his body to an obvious objection. [A/N: If you catch my drift, XD] Snape sighed languorously, rolling onto his side and forcefully casting himself into a fitful sleep. [A/N: Back to my crap!]  
  
Lupin lay with his eyes closed on his right side, seeking a thing that had always been elusive to him…sleep. He had been in that same position for hours now. What time was it? Oh well. Any time is a perfect time for a good smoke. Lupin opened the top drawer of his dresser and removed his pipe as well as a brown paper bag containing his tobacco. He shook the contents only to find emptiness.  
  
"Rachael? Holly? Come here a moment." He spoke into the mirror above his dresser.  
  
Almost immediately after he had said this, two strange looking house elves staggered into his room, each holding a jug of butterbeer equal to their own size.   
  
Lupin sighed. "Well, you get what you pay for…" He muttered to himself. "Which one of you has been in my dresser?" He asked trying to sound as friendly as possible. Last time he had been stern with any of them they went into a depressive slump and drank every drop of intoxicating liquid he had owned. And even some he hadn't.  
  
The both of them took a sip of their beverage and shook their heads guiltily.   
  
Lupin noted a powdery substance on Rachael's lips. "So what's that, Rachael?" Lupin asked sternly. Rachael grabbed Holly's arm and staggered, full speed [XD], out of Lupin's room and into the crawl space in the hall closet. [A/N: Sorry about that…I needed to do something with the house elves, because I'm a fricken weirdo.]  
  
Well how is he to get to sleep now, without his nightly ritual? No matter, nights were good times to think. No disturbances, no worries, nothing. Not even any social requirements. He returned to his warm little niche, on the very far side of the bed, and put his back to the rest of the world.   
  
He had screwed up his whole life up to this point. First, when he was only seven he had made his first horrible mistake. He had gone out fishing on a full moon, giving his parents no choice but to come to his rescue. Instead, his mother was killed by a pack of werewolves, he himself was stricken with Lyanthropy, and his father hadn't talked to him since that fateful day in Bellwood.  
  
That first ghastly occurrence might have been passed off as a mistake. As simple childhood ignorance. But the next event…Was purely his own fault, caused by his own wanton carelessness. His uncle had been taking care of him up until the age of 9. It was, once again, a full moon, and it was Lupin's own responsibility to seal himself in his uncle's cellar, because his unfortunate uncle was forced to work double shifts and would be home no earlier than 3:00am. On the way down to the cellar, Lupin slipped on a stair and was knocked out instantly after hitting the equally slick railing. The young werewolf transformed unprotected by the safety of a lock or at least a closed door. Omitting the horrid details, young Remus woke up with his uncle's taste in his mouth. To this day, the only memory Lupin has had as a wolf was not the wind in his hair, nor the sight of the full, bright moon, but of his uncle's tortured screams.  
  
Lupin awoke, heart beating rapidly, laying in a cold puddle of his own sweat. His own thoughts had betrayed him into a nightmare. He sat up, pivoted on his behind, and planted his feet on the warm shag carpet that matched the dewy grass outside. He padded his way softly along the hall, up the stairs, and onto a rustic balcony overlooking a pristine spring. He expected to find his little hideaway vacant, but his eyes met a different sight. A gray nightshirt clad Snape stood at the edge of the balcony with both of his silky hands on the railings. The moonlight seemed to bring his usually dead looking face to life. The circles adorning the space underneath his eyes seemed to have disappeared, and his normally pasty looking skin had taken on a beautiful, if not ethereal, glow.  
  
Lupin stood transfixed by the man's seemingly overnight transformation. He tiptoed silently to the potion master's side and assumed the same position. Snape stiffly, and meekly, put his arm around Lupin's shoulders and drew him into a soft embrace. Lupin leaned into the contact and the two shared an understood silence. [A/N: Aw…How cute. So, Snape has found his gay side? What'll happen now? Something unbelievably gross, or something insanely arousing. It depends. I really don't want to write that, so let's just assume they "got it on".] 


	6. Fith and Final Chapter: A New Life

Chapter six: A New Life [A/N: No, Lupin doesn't have pups]  
  
Snape and Lupin awoke with the same soul, the same scent, and the same frame of mind. Neither of them had felt this contented in their whole adult existence. Life was perfect. Until Dumbledore's Great Horned Owl flew in through Lupin's open bedroom window. Snape recognized the bird and immediately jumped from his position next to Lupin. He thrust out his arm and called to the owl. It flew to him and gingerly landed on the thin perch, presenting him with a manila envelope with the seal of the Order of the Phoenix. Snape tore the seal with haste and began to read.  
  
Severus-  
  
Your prescence is required at the castle immediately. There had been an increase in Death Eater activity, and you are needed once again to accept the call of duty. Please leave at once for you-know-where. Bring nothing with you except the clothes on your back [A/N: Sorry, Sorry, I had to write that.] and tell no one but those in the Order. Come with haste, and may the Light shine upon you.  
  
A. Dumbledore  
  
Snape shook is head and threw the note into the fire with a curse. Lupin stood in the doorway with a mournful look staining his youthful features.  
  
"So this is how we end." He stated simply.   
  
"No it isn't." Said Snape sternly. "I am not cut off from the world by simply being in the Order again. I will write. I won't forget about you, Remus." He continued.  
  
"There are other men and women out there, Sev. Every person I have ever come close to has either died or forgotten about me. I'd rather you be the latter than the former." Lupin muttered, barely keeping his tears at bay.  
  
Snape pulled out his wand and prepared to apparate. He cried out. "I have no regrets. I will not have you push me aside after what we shared. I will write you, and when this is all over, I would share whatever I have left of my life…With you."   
  
And at the end of the war, they did. 


End file.
